First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi had lost his patience, and he couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words.

He put away his wine jug and Abstruse Celestial, then approached the jailer bare-handed.

He’s attacking, just like that!? The crowd was stunned, and their minds almost went blank.

They would never have anticipated this, not even if someone had hit them over the head. Su Yi wasn’t just not scared of this terrifying, mysterious man. No, he couldn’t even be bothered to talk to him!

Furthermore, he’d even gone and put away his sword. It seemed he planned to fight barehanded!

This was so domineering that it seemed rather muddleheaded. 

Even Fu Qingyun’s eyes widened. Su Yi’s sudden decision left him stunned.

“You lost your cool so easily?” The man in black was stunned too, and his eyes shone with ridicule. “Do you think that standing at the pinnacle of the Spirit Dao means you can act as you please, heedless of the consequences? All I can say is, you… know nothing of true power.”

As his voice echoed through the air, he swung his sleeves.

Boom!

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Heaven and earth trembled. A pair of dim gray light radiance surged forth, condensing into a millstone-sized palm imprint that bore down on the skies.

The aura emanating from the palm imprint was incomparably strange. It seemed to shatter its surroundings, corroding the Grand Dao of heaven and earth. The skies cracked and collapsed around it!

“Even Emperors would fear such power. How are you going to block it?” the man in black asked with great interest. His eyes glinted with playful light, like a cat toying with a mouse.

Off in the distance, someone cried out in terror, “The power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness!” 

The survivors of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness, older-generation cultivators and monsters of the ancient era alike, were visibly astonished. All of them recognized this power.

Every onlooker was overcome with astonishment.

When the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness befell the Azure Continent, it plunged the entire world into thirty thousand years of darkness and upheaval.

This dealt a devastating impact to countless Imperial-level orthodoxies, which either declined and faded or left the Azure Continent altogether.

The effects lasted for thirty thousand years!

The Azure Continent’s cultivation world practically withered, and throughout heaven and earth, the presence of the Grand Dao collapsed, rendering the world spiritually barren. Even now, none of the world’s factions had recovered their vitality.

Even now that the Radiant Epoch had arrived, Emperors were nowhere to be found. Imperial-level orthodoxies no longer existed in this world!

This was what made the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness so terrifying!

Especially to the old-timers who’d survived its effects. They’d experienced its power personally. They were both alarmed and terrified, and they hated it to their very bones.

Yet now, this taboo, calamitous power had appeared before them once more. Moreover, it was under the control of a mysterious man of unknown origins!

Who wouldn’t have been terrified?

The man in black took in the crowd’s reactions, and his grin broadened.

But a moment later, he froze.

Su Yi was still headed right toward him, and his steps never so much as slowed, nor did his expression waver. It was as if he were entirely ignorant of the danger. 

Halfway there, he raised his right hand and slashed.

Whoosh!

Sword qi streaked through the air with the force of blue skies, shining with the light of a new dawn as it descended upon the world.

“You really… overestimate yourself…” The man in black couldn’t help but laugh. 

Without any further hesitation, he exerted his will.

The hovering, millstone-sized gray palm imprint rumbled and boomed as it flew forth.

Bang!

Sword qi and palm imprint clashed.

But there was no shocking collision, nor was there any sort of alarming or astonishing disturbance.

Because Su Yi’s slash cleaved through the millstone-sized palm as if it were made of tofu!

“???” The crowd was flabbergasted. He cut through a palm manifested of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness, just like that?

The gap between reality and their expectations was so enormous that they almost dared not believe their eyes.

The black-robed man’s smile froze in place.

He could control the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. He naturally knew better than anyone how terrifying it was. It was no exaggeration to say that here on the Azure Continent, he could strike dread into the hearts of Emperors. Not even they would dare clash with him head-on.

Yet now, a young man had slashed through his attack!

The black-robed man’s eyelids twitched, but before he could react…

Boom!

The palm split down the midline and receded like the tide.

And Su Yi’s sword qi continued toward him, its power undiminished.

The man in black snorted coldly, raised his hand, and pressed down.

It was a light, airy gesture, yet it was as a celestial dragon had extended its claws through the clouds. His hand shone with the dim, taboo light, so powerful that it seemed he’d rip the entire landscape to shreds.

However——

Bang!!

A massive impact followed as the sword qi crushed this attack just like the last.

This time, the man in black’s expression changed dramatically, and he no longer dared to hesitate. He dodged in a flash, and the sword qi missed him by a hair.

Boom!

When the sword qi descended, it carved an inestimably deep rift in the ground, like a massive chasm. Dust and smoke filled the air.

The entire area fell deathly silent. Without exception, the distant onlookers were wide-eyed and tongue-tied.

Who could miss that the power emblazoned within Su Yi’s slash had effortlessly countered the Prohibition of Ancient darkness?

This reality was utterly astonishing; they couldn’t have been any more shocked.

Thirty thousand years ago, even Imperial orthodoxies were helpless against the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. Even Emperors had no choice but to flee its power. It was as unshakeable as the Will of Heaven itself. 

Yet now, Su Yi’s slash had cut through their preconceptions.

It was easy to imagine how much of a shock this was.

Even Fu Qingyun, well-versed in history and well-informed about the present, was beside himself with astonishment.

And the man in black? Astonishment was already written all over his face.

“You… How did you…” He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Su Yi had already run out of patience. How could he pay the jailer any heed?

He leaped and swung his fist.

Boom!

Boundless fist force slammed down like a majestic divine mountain.

It was incomparably forceful.

The man in black was obviously infuriated. His robes billowed around him as he extended his hand into the air. The power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness surged forth, manifesting a cage.

It was as if he’d sealed and suppressed the entire stretch of heaven and earth!

A long time ago, the man in black had used a similar secret technique to suppress the Imperial experts of the Azure Continent. It had never failed him before.

But in the blink of an eye, the cage shattered into pieces.

A fist slammed into the man in black, sending him flying ruthlessly back. Blood poured from the corners of his mouth, and his face paled.

His expression shifted dramatically, and waves of astonishment coursed through his heart as he realized that this wasn’t looking good.

Shocking as it was, he already dared say with certainty that Su Yi had means of countering the Prohibition’s power!

“Wait!” When he saw Su Yi ready his next attack, he cried out, “It seems we need to talk…”

Boom!

Fist force rumbled and boomed like thunder, interrupting him mid-sentence.

Su Yi struck forcefully, his fist force dazzling. As he punched, fist intent blanketed ten thousand feet of sky.

The man in black naturally wouldn’t just sit around and wait to die, but when he tried using the Prohibition’s power to resist, it seemed utterly useless.

Bang!

He was sent flying once more. His hair was disheveled, and the bones of his shoulder girdle shattered with a spray of blood. He looked utterly miserable.

The distant onlookers were completely dumbstruck.    

How proud and contemptuous had the man in black been? He was like a demonic sovereign straight out of the pits of hell, lofty and supreme. He even disdained the world’s cultivators as clay chickens and porcelain dogs.

Yet when the fighting truly began, Su Yi thoroughly trounced him!

Who’d have dared imagine this?

The black-robed man’s eyes bulged with fury, and he was beside himself with rage.

He’d never even considered the possibility that when he finally recovered some of his vitality and left Meteor Abyss, he’d suffer such a setback.

In the past, he saw even Emperors as prey!

Yet now, Su Yi, a young man of the Spiritual Incarnation Realm, had rendered him incapable of fighting back. Of course he felt stifled! Of course he was furious! How could he not be?

“Su Yi, you’re seeking death!” The man in black shouted, his long hair flowing around him. His entire body shone with dim gray light, which spread out and enveloped heaven and earth.

His hands formed seals, and countless dim gray blades floated into the air, then swept toward Su Yi like a hurricane.

Wherever they passed, they tore countless jarring, eye-catching rifts in heaven and earth.

These blades were manifested of the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness, and there were so many of them that they blanketed the entire landscape. They could have easily slaughtered any Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivator in this world. 

Too bad it wasn’t at all threatening to Su Yi.

Boom!

Su Yi proceeded ahead, like a beam of flowing light, making no effort to dodge. He cleaved through the sharp blades filling the sky like an axe through bamboo, clearing a path ahead.

As the countless blades audibly shattered, Su Yi’s punch slammed into the black-robed man’s gut.

Bang!

The man in black cried out, his body like a broken sandbag as he slammed into the ground, leaving a massive crater in the earth.

His face was black, blue, swollen, and smeared with dirt. He hacked up blood as he writhed in agony.

He was a miserable sight, and there was no sign of his earlier contemptuous bearing. He seemed like a completely different person.

The distant onlookers were visibly bewildered. 

This battle had turned into a one-sided pummeling!

The man in black couldn’t fight back at all!

“Bastard!!” An infuriated roar shook heaven and earth once more. The man in black charged at Su Yi as if he’d gone mad, his entire body emanating destructive energy fluctuations. 

But this time, he didn’t draw upon the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness.

Su Yi’s eyes shone with a hint of disdain.

From the moment he first laid eyes on the man in black, he knew that as powerful as he seemed, it was all a facade. He’d been hollowed out; his foundations in the Grand Dao were severely damaged.

Without his ability to manipulate the Prohibition of Ancient darkness, he was at best comparable to Xie Zhibei, Huan Shanglin, and other elite Spiritual Revolution cultivators.

Su Yi didn’t know how the man in black had been injured, but he dared say with certainty that despite lying dormant for countless years, the jailer who’d once hidden deep within Meteor Abyss was on his last legs and clinging desperately to life.

Boom!

A heaven-shaking collision rang out.

The man in black slammed into the ground once more.

This time, his injuries were even more severe, and throughout his body, countless bones snapped. Blood gushed all over his skin.

It was almost unbearable to watch!

By now, it was obvious to everyone the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness couldn’t threaten Su Yi, and that without it, the man in black was like a deity stripped of his power and cast into mortal dust. All he could do was take a beating.

The gap between expectations and reality was jarringly enormous. This was a man like a demonic god, yet he’d been trampled from beginning to end. 

Whoosh!

Su Yi’s figure descended from the heavens.

His hands were behind his back as he gazed down at the ground. The man in black had fallen not far away.

“I’ll give you another chance,” said Su Yi. “Please explain what it means to be ‘unworthy of notice, no more than clay chickens and porcelain dogs.’ And while you’re at it, what does it mean to ‘know nothing of true power?’”

The disheveled, unseemly, miserable-looking man in black quivered from head to toe. His face was ashen, and intense humiliation and anger rose within his heart.